


THE NARSH 
POULTRY SYSTEM 




V 



HOW TO (JET A HANDSOM ME FROM 20 
SQUARE OF GROUND 

PRICE $1.00 

\KSH. In. I Publisher 

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SF 487 
.N3 
Copy 1 



i ne Narsh Poultry 
System 

By J. M. NARSH, Inventor and Publisher 
PRICE $1.00 

Big Profit in Raising Chickens 



HOW TO GET A HANDSOME INCOME FROM 
TWENTY FEET SQUARE OF GROUND 



The Purchasers of this book are given the right to make and 
use any and all appliances herein contained. Owners of the 
book may employ others to make tne appliances; bnt persons who 
do not own the book have no right to use the appliances or the 
system. 



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1URNETTE PRINTING COMPANY 



NO 10 NORTH BROADWAY. OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA 



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THE NARSH POULTRY SYSTEM 



The publication of this book is for the purpose of 
giving" a full description of my system of coops, brooders, 
feeders and appliances and the best known methods, that 
have been proven by actual practice, for the successful 
profitable raising of poultry. These pages will treat 
of the feeding and care of the chicks from the moment 
they leave the egg, and if the methods herein set forth 
are carefully followed, the reader can feel safe in his 
anticipation of success. 

We have given the system a thorough trial, and 
know that our system can be and has been made a suc- 
cess, either on the farm or on a city lot It will no doubt 
surprise the reader to know that $2,000 per annum can 
be made on 20 feet square, producing chickens that will 
bring from one to three cents above the market price; 
yet the facts are that under this system even greater re- 
sults are being attained. 

Two-pound broilers are being produced in seven to 
eight weeks, bringing from 40 to 50 cents apiece, and 
broilers raised under this system always find a ready 
market. 

It will be still more surprising to know that under 
this system a single hen will produce $25 worth of 
broilers in a year, and they are even doing better than 
that. A good hen will produce 150 eggs a year, and, if 
properly fed, 90 per cent of the eggs will hatch, making 
135 chicks; and under this system 90 per cenl will be 
raised, making fully 120 broilers. The reader can figure 
out what a 150 egg hen will produce. Hens properly 
bred and cared for under this system will produce 150 
eggs a year. 



4 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

It would be foolish for us to contend that our system 
has reached perfection, or that there is virtue in no 
other. But the reader will be quick to see, after having 
perused these pages, and studied our plans of construc- 
tion, that this system of caring for poultry is a long 
step in advance of others, and the fact that well known 
poultry men of years' experience are quick to see its ad- 
vantages is by no means a small factor in proving our 
assertions. We acknowledge that our system is in many 
respects a direct contradiction of the teaching of many 
leading poultiw men. But if by contradiction one may 
transplant a five-acre poultry farm from the country to 
his back .yard in the city, overcome losses and increase 
production, and give to the consuming public a product 
that is free from every taint of disease — then why stick 
to the old? 

It is true that with his wooden plow and other crude 
instruments of agriculture the farmer of long ago ekd 
out his livelihood, but nevertheless he has seized ho'd of 
every improvement, substituting the horse for the ox, 
then the steam engine for the horse, then the electric 
motor for the steam, until now at his own will he makes 
the countless acres to yield their abundance. 

The Narsh System has done away with closed 
chicken houses, with their mites and lice and stagnant 
air and disease breeding fumes. It has put the fowls 
out of reach of rat or cat or hawk or flood. It has made 
useless artificially heated and injurious brooders. It 
has reduced disease to the minimum and made it easily 
controlled. It has made the raising of various breeds 
possible in a small space, yet keeping them always sepa- 
rate and therefore pure. It has made it possible for the 
poor man to become independant, and for the struggling 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 5 

poultryman of the "old school" to make a profit for his 
labor. 

The full system and how to obtain these results are 
fully set forth in the pages of this book. 



$2,000 MADE FROM 100 HENS ON 20 FEET SQUARE 

SPACE. 



It has been the ambition of the writer for many years 
to devise a system by which poultry can be raised and be 
made profitable. This required a careful study of each 
obstacle and how to overcome it by a system that will 
meet all requirements both in the country and in the 
thickly populated cities where dogs, cats and rats are 
very destructive to poultry raising, often destroying 
whole broods of chickens in a single night. Also the 
annoyance of chickens to the neighbors, often causing 
bad feeling, by chickens destroying shrubs, flowers and 
other plants. Other obstructions were mites and lice, 
which are destructive and seemingly prohibitory to suc- 
cessful poultry raising in the city at a profit. 

Yet all of these have been overcome by my new sys- 
tem. It has been the prevailing theory that chickens 
must have a large range to do well and to go into the 
poultry business you want to get to the outskirts of 
town, purchase a farm of from one to five acres of land, 
then erect suitable buildings and other equipment be- 
lieved to be necessary to make poultry raising profitable. 
All of which is a mistake. You can do a profitable poul- 
try business in one corner of your city lot, which can be 
made far more profitable than the one or five-acre tract, 
under this system. 



€ THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

It is a known fact that a hen will do her best when 
confined to a small space if the necessary conditions ex- 
ist. These conditions are pure air, plenty of light, pro- 
tection from lice, mites and other parasites; also protec- 
tion from injury by quadrupeds, dampness and cold, all 
of which is overcome in this system. 

It is a rare thing to get over 25 eggs a day from 50 
hens where they are kept in one flock, while it is not a 
rare thing to get 5 and even 6 eggs from six hens where 
only six hens are kept in a flock. Under this system 
100 hens can be kept — 6 hens and one cockerel in a flock. 
On 10 feet square and with an additional 10 feet square 
for raising broilers, $2,000 can be made per year. This 
system is a unit system and can be started with the 
smallest unit and does not require a college graduate 
to operate the plant. Any person of ordinary ability 
can operate this system profitably. 

You do not need to give up your present business 
or position to thoroughly test this system. You can pur- 
chase from some one 10 or 12 chicks just hatched which 
often can be purchased for 5 or 10 cents apiece. Be sure 
to get those that are of good breeding. If you can make 
2-pound broilers from them in eight weeks, you may 
feel sure you have mastered the system of raising broilers 
and you will be safe to carry the plant to the desired size. 
If you have not obtained these results. Bomething is 
wrong. You then have the chance to study over the sys- 
tem and find what has been omitted or what conditions 
caused the failure. You can then start with another 
unit. If this system is fully carried out you will be safe 
to make the plant as large as desired in the beginning. 

All parts of the poultry business, from securing 
hatchable eggs to the marketing of the poultry is set 



THE NARSH SYSTEM 7 

forth in this system, giving the best known methods. 

The writer has carefully considered the matter of 
economy in appliances, also in labor-saving in the care of 
the poultry. A woman can care for a plant of 50 or 60 
hens or even 100 hens by the assistance of her husband 
a few minutes night and morning. 



DON'T JUMP AT CONCLUSIONS. 



If one should try to follow the dictate of everx 
writer as to how to do this and that, one would be ever- 
lastingly "in hot water," almost every succeding day 
contradicting and destroying the work of the previous 
one. Because one has tried an experiment and achieved 
a seeming success, it is hardly wise to jump at conclu- 
sions and base all future plans on this one success. A 
lady friend not long since had a hen which stole its nest 
in the weeds and brought off 15 chicks, without losing 
an egg. At the same time a hen set in the barn cam* 
off with very poor success. Hence the good lady rea- 
soned that the ground was the proper place for setting 
hens. The result was, as any experienced poultry raiser 
knows — a distinct failure. It happened that at the time 
the first hen set the ground was exceedingly dry, while 
at the next setting it was damp — a condition fatal to the 
hatch. 

Every method set forth in this book has been 
thoroughly tested under varying conditions extending 
over several years' experience; and while in some in- 
stances conditions might add to or detract from the suc- 
cess of certain ones who adopt our system, yet we are 



8 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

free to say that with a reasonably close adherance to the 
system herein outlined there need be little cause for 
failure. 



SOUTHWEST FOR POULTRY. 



Poultry thrives in the southwest, the climate being 
dry and the air dry and pure. The insect life is more 
plentiful in the south and west than in the north and east. 
The cold dampness of the latter is destructive to the in- 
sect life and the injury to the poultry by lice and mites 
is less. And on the other hand, the same cause, that is, 
excessive cold and dampness, injures the fowls. 

This should convince us that in a country where such 
insects thrive the natural conditions are ideal for poultry. 

Lice and mites must have a dark place to breed, ex- 
cluded from circulating air. I ask my reader to bear this 
in mind when examinging my system. No lice or mites 
exist under my system and I feel with these removed I 
can rightfully call this country the Poultry Eden. 



COST OF EQUIPMENT COMPARED WITH OTHER 
METHODS. 



The first cost of the Narsh system is from 10 to 25 
per cent cheaper than any system I know anything about, 
and I think I am pretty well posted on the different poul- 
try systems that have become popular. 

My second saving is in labor in giving the fowls 
proper care. This saving is at least 50 per cent. 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 9 

WHY MIDDLE-AGED MEN SHOULD START IN THE 
POULTRY BUSINESS. 



It is a known fact that the large employe s and cor- 
porations have established the age rule. When a man 
has reached or passed the middle age of life he is to a large 
extent crowded out, or in other words, has difficulty 'n 
securing employment. 

The railroad companies want young men; the street 
railways want young men; express companies want young 
men ; the manufacturers want young men ; and the result 
is that the middle-aged man that must depend upon his 
wages for a livelihood is forced to tal%e employment loo 
heavy and hard for his deteriorated strength. To the 
middle-aged man I would advise, get into the poultry bus- 
iness. You can easily get a start of poultry and by so 
doing you can soon have a nice little income and a grow- 
ing business. 

The trusts cannot monopolize the poultry business. 
They have the control of beef and pork, but they cannot 
monopolize the hen or her product. There is a ready mar- 
ket every day in the year for the poultryman's product. 
The experimental stations have proven that it costs no 
more to produce a pound of poultry than it does to pro- 
duce a pound of pork or beef and the poultry will bring 
nearly double as much per pound. And again, it takes 
too long a time for a man of limited mea^is to get re- 
turns from beef or pork . You can start in the poultry 
business with three birds and at the end of the first season 
you can have 25 or 30 pullets and a number of cockerels. 
Pullets raised by the Narsh System will produce eggs 
when five or six months old. The second year you can 
have at least 100 laying pullets to start the third season. 



10 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

Your roosters can be marketed when 8 weeks old, giving 
you an income during the time you are rai ing your 
utility hens the third year. With 100 hens you can make 
a clear profit of 2,000 dollars, and at the same t me 
double your number of laying hens. If you follow the 
Narsh System you will get these results. 



GET INTO A GROWING BUSINESS. 



One great secret of success in any line of business is 
to get into a growing business. The poultry business is 
growing now a it never did before. It is absolutely cer- 
tain to keep on growing for many years. The country is 
becoming more thickly populated all the time, and the 
chance to raise the larger food animals is growing smaller. 
This leaves an opening for poultry which must be filled 
by increasing the number of fowls kept in the country. 
In all the older countries poultry-keeping has become one 
of the great industries. The flesh of fowls has always 
been considered more dainty and toothsome than that of 
cattle or swine, and the demand for it grows rapidly in 
every country as soon as it becomes filled up with well- 
to-do people. 

All things considered, the broiler business is a most 
profitable one for the capital invested, and it can be 
operation on either a large or small scale and on the farm 
or in the towns. It also has the advantage of being light 
work, which anyone can do, and this accounts for so many 
women members of families making a success of it. 

The question as to whether broiler raising pays or 
not has been thoroughly settled in the affirmative. The 
large broiler plants that continue to flourish throughout 
the country is abundant proof that the business pays. It 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 11 

can be started with a small capital, and if properly man- 
aged there is no business that presents to those of mod- 
erate means a better prospect than that of "broiler rais- 
ing.' y It has made men and women prosperous and 
happy, and for the same reasons as those advanced else- 
where in this booklet, you should start in the broiler b s- 
iness. 



POULTRY MORE PROFITABLE THAN OTHER STOCK 



It has been proven that it does not cost any more to 
produce a pound of pure-bred poultry than it does to pro- 
duce a pound of pork or beef. I do not need to tell the in- 
telligent reader that poultry always sells for mo e, pound 
for pound, than does either pork or beef. A i.ound of 
poultry yields the producer about twice the clear profit 
that is realized from the production of pork and beef. This 
has been definitely settled by careful experiments at ne 
of our big experiment stations. 

The flocks of hens in our country are turning a billion 
dollars ' worth of products over to their owners every year 
and the little poultry business is a pretty big th'ng when 
you come to look up the figures. The poultry business 
of this country is a thousand times bigger than it was 
thirty years ago. Any business which has kept right on 
growing every year for thirty years at the rate of 30 per 
cent a year, is worth thinking about, The pouUry busi- 
ness grows because it furnishes men, women and ch ldren 
with food and the more people there are "n a cou* try, the 
more demand there is for food products of all knds. 
Every year the proportion of people in towns and cities 
increase and these non-producers keep competing with 
each other in their demand for food, so meat, poultry and 



12 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

eggs keep raising in prices all the time. The more work- 
men in the factories, the more eggs and poultry are reed- 
ed to supply them. 

Poultry is no longer a luxury. It is one of the stap'e 
foods of our people. The present standard of living ca Is 
for eggs at least one a day and the workingmen of the 
country live up to the standard. 

Why, the poultry keepers of this country could pay 
every old soldier his pension and not miss it. They would 
only need to give up less than one-sixth of the money 
they get for poultry and eggs to do it. 

The poultry business is something to be proud of and 
to keep in mind because it is coming on more rapidly than 
any other business on earth. 

Thousands of people are today making a comfortable 
living and many have become independent by raising 
poultry and eggs for market. Yet poultry is always 
worth more per pound than any other meat, and sells 
just as readily. 

Repeated experiments have shown that it costs some- 
thing less than six cents a dozen to produce eggs. During 
late years, eggs have never been so low as the cost price. 
There has been a steady increase in the price of eggs ever 
since cold storage has been used to keep summer eggs 
over for winter use. When eggs can be produce I at six 
cents or less a dozen and sold for fifteen to twenty-lire 
cents or more it does not require any argument to show 
that they are very profitable. 

With modern methods for keeping eggs over from 
the warm season when they are plentiful, to the cold sea- 
son, when they are scarce, there is not the least danger 
that the market will ever become overstocked. In fact, this 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 13 

country could use four times as many eggs as are now 
produced without glutting the market. 

It is a well established fact that there is money in 
poultry. There are many men and women who are mak- 
ing it pay big. There are thousands more who are making 
money out of the business conducting it as a side line, 
many of them making $300 to $1,000 a year and mo e, 
and they devote only a small share of their time to the 
business. What others have done others may do. Wh - 
not you? 



FIRST STEPS. 



One of the most essential steps in any business is to 
start right. The way to start right in the poultry busi- 
ness is to get a good breed. We do not attempt to point 
out any particular breed, as there are many reliable ones 
that will produce good results. We will only give the 
system, leaving the selection of breeds to the fancy of 
the poultryman. 

If you are breeding for broilers, select the best stock 
you can get of two good breeds, then cross the two breeds. 
This gives you a start of breeds which you are sure are 
not related. Then the second cross should be made b - 
tween the offsprings of the first breeding, or, in other 
words, mate the first cousins. This is not considered in- 
breed. And now you must use your best judgment in 
your selection of utility breeders. The most active pul- 
lets — the ones first to their feed and that have their 
crops well filled at night — will make the best breeders. 
They are almost sure to be the ones first to develop, 
although they will not be the largest when fully matured, 
and will produce the largest number of eggs. The less 



14 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

active pullets will be found to come to maturity more 
slowly, will likely be the largest of the breed, and will 
produce a smaller number of eggs, which will be larger. 
The slower maturing pullets build up a large frame, mak- 
ing them slower to commence producing eggs. 

The earliest matured pullets should be mated with 
the strongest cockerels of their first cousins, while the 
slower maturing pullets should be mated with the earlier 
maturing cockerels. 

This method of crossing breeds for broilers does not, 
of course, produce a pure breed, but while it makes desir- 
able fowls for the market, it at the same time protects the 
pure bred stock from indiscriminate sale. The cockerels 
can be replaced in its own brood and the pure stock raised. 
For instance, a Barred Rock cockerel crossed with a Rhode 
Island Red will produce an early maturing broiler, then 
the Barred Rock can be replaced in its own pen and after 
the sixth days' mating you will have thoroughbreds again. 
In breeding for egg producers, equal care should be used 
in selecting the stock. Hens laying the smaller eggs will 
produce the largest number in a given length of time, but 
will not be the best for producing broilers. 

The breeder should bear in mind that wonderful 
changes can be made in the way of breeding. Setters can 
be made of non-setters, and non-setters made from setters. 
And the same results may be obtained regarding egg pro- 
duction. 

If you start with stock that has good breeding a few 
generations will make wonderful changes. A hen will 
produce her equal or better along the line for which you 
are breeding, but if your stock is not well bred to start 
with, a hen will not be apt to produce her equal in off- 
spring. 



BEST AGE FOR BREEDERS. 



Many writers claim that two years old is the best 
age for breeders. This may be true of some of the larger 
breeds which are slow to mature, but it will be found that 
breeds that are fully matured at one year old, both hens 
and cockerels, will do their best at one vear old. 



SELECTING PULLETS FOR BREEDING BROILERS 
AND CAPONS. 



Select pullets which have a large craw and have it 
well filled at night. The large craw shows that it eats 
plenty of roughness or bulky food, and its eggs will pro- 
duce a stronger and larger chicken than a pullet with a 
smaller craw, though well filled. Bulky food will be 
more apt to produce eggs that will hatch than will fatty 
food. The pullets should be selected from chicks that 
were hatched in the winter. You will then be sure they 
are produced by winter layers, and if this is done you will 
soon find that in a short time it will be as natural for 
your hens to lay in winter as for spring and summer 
hatched to lay in summer. 

The best strains for broilers will be produced by 
breeding full-bloods that are nearest of a size. For an 
example, the Leghorn crossed with the Brahma would not 
make a strain that would equal one bred from Minorcas 
and Plymouth Rocks, the latter being nearer of a size 
and shape to start with, while the first named would 
take several generations to produce a uniform strain. 

Many times it will be found cheaper to purchase 
eggs to start a good breed, as they generally can be 
purchased for from three to five dollars per setting. In 



16 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

case eggs are used for a start, arrangements should be 
made for the hatching before the eggs are purchased. 



BROILERS RAISED BY THE NARSH SYSTEM. 



Where chickens are raised on the range they are con- 
stantly chasing insects. They eat many poisonous bugs 
and worms which causes them to take bowel trouble. This 
causes the chicken to stand still as far as growth is con- 
cerned, and if at the end of several months the chick has 
reached broiler size, it is not a healthy looking chicken 
and the flesh will be found nearly as tough as an old 
fowl. 

Lovers of chicken soon learn this and such chickens 
find a slow market and a low price. People often go to 
market for chickens and if the chicken found doesn't look 
very appetizing, they return with a beef or pork steak 

Chickens raised under the Naish System will grow 
from the day they are hatched. They get no backs Is 
from being chilled or from bowel trouble, but are pictures 
of health. Their flesh is as tender as a squab, and oft m 
bring full broiler price when only six and seven weeks 
old. These are the kind I am raising and the kind you 
can raise under the Narsh Svstem. 



HOW TO FEED BREEDERS IN ORDER TO SECURE 
EGGS THAT WILL HATCH. 



The morning feed should be a mixture of wheat, 
bran and corn meal. Wet with sweet skim milk, season 
with salt and pepper, about as food should be seasoned 
for the table, using two-thirds wheat bran and one 
third cornmeal, feeding such quantities as will be quickly 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 17 

eaten up. The second feed should be lean meat scraps; 
no fat of any kind should be fed, as the fat will injure 
the hatching qualities of the eggs. 

Alfalfa meal or ground clover should be fed and 
may be mixed with the early morning feed. Oats and 
dry wheat bran should be kept before them all the time. 
When the alfalfa meal can be had hens should have all they 
will eat. If the alfalfa cannot be had, then cut or ground 
clover will answer. A small piece of sprouted oats sod 
should be fed each day. Green cut bone may be fed where 
the fatty substance is absent, or it may be burned and 
ground. Ground oyster shells are preferable. Hens should 
be supplied with plenty of grit, either gravel or chat. 
Plenty of pure water should be kept before them at all 
times. If the water is cut off the egg yield will cease at 
once, as eggs are composed largely of water. 

Laying hens should be fed all they want to eat. It 
is a mistake to think that hens will get too fat to produce 
eggs. If fed the proper material for making eggs, the 
eggs will be made. For example, if a hen is fed on a diet 
of corn alone, it is impossible for her to produce eggs, as 
the corn does not contain the necessary elements. The 
result is, the hen will become very fat. Eggs are com- 
posed of different mineral substances as well as cereals,. 



FERTILITY. 



Three days after mating, eggs usually will be fertile ; 
but if the mating has been changed, the first six eggs 
will be apt to show traces of either mating. After two 
weeks you will be sure to get results from the last mating 
oniy. 



18 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

It has often been found that well fertiled eggs do 
not produce chicks; the chicks may be matured and die 
in the shell. This is sometimes caused from improper 
incubation, but in nearly every case the fault lies in the 
feeding of the hen. Too much fatty food has been fed 
and not enough bulky food. For this reason, prepared 
food sold on the market should not be relied on, even 
where meat and bone is ground in butcher shops and 
sold for chicken feed, as there is very apt to be fat iu 
the meat scraps, and a very small amount of marrow, 
which is inside of many bones will destroy the hatching 
ability of the eggs. 

Sweet milk should be fed where it is possible to get 
it at not too great a cost, always removing the cream be- 
fore feeding. If this system is practiced your eggs will 
hatch. In some tests at the Virginia Experiment Station 
the following results were obtained: In a test of 122 
days, 22 hens were fed with skim milk, laying 1214 
eggs, as against 996 laid by 22 hens fed a mash wet with 
water. In a test covering 37 days, 60 hens laid 862 eggs 
on a skim milk diet, while a like number fed no skim 
milk laid 632 eggs. Other experiments conducted showed 
similar results. The station, from these tests, estimates 
that when eggs are worth 20 to 25 cents per dozen, skim 
milk has a feeding value of 1 1-2 to 2 cents a quart. 



MATERIAL WHICH COMPOSES THE EGG. 



A hen's egg of good size will weigh 1000 grains, of 
which the white constitutes 600, the yolk 300, and the 
shell 100. Egg shell is a membrane, coated with carbon- 
ate of lime, and forms 10.7 parts of the egg; 11.9 parts 
albumen ; 12.8 parts fat ; 7 parts salt, and 68.9 parts water. 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 19 

The ten must have food containing these ingredients 
in order to produce eggs. The carbonate of lime is found 
plentifully in oyster and clam shells, also the salt albumen 
from oats, wheat, rye, and many other small grains ; while 
corn and meat supply a greater part of the fat. 

A poultry man who would be successful should post 
himself thoroughly on grain and vegetable matter, as 
this will aid very materially in his selection of food for 
his hens. Hens may be rightfully called an "egg ma- 
chine/' and, like other machines, must be furnished with 
the right material in order to turn out the finished pro- 
duct. 



CARE OF EGGS TO BE INCUBATED. 



It is always best to set the eggs as soon as possibl. 
the same day as they are laid is best. Yet they can be 
kept in good condition for one or two weeks and even 
longer. For best results, however, the -sooner they are 
set after hatching, the better. 

The evaporation of the moisture commences at once, 
and will take with it some of the necessary material re- 
quired to grow a strong chick. This evaporation con- 
tinues from day to day until the egg becomes worthless 
for hatching. 

Fresh eggs, in a properly constructed incubator, will 
not need to be supplied with artificial moisture. When 
artificial moisture is supplied, it does not give back to the 
egg the other matter that has been evaporated, and the 
chicken will plainly show the result. 

When it is necessary to keep eggs they should be 
kept cool, as the evaporation is much less than at a high 
temperature. They can be kept in a cellar, or even in a 



20 THE NABSH SYSTEM. 

cooler. The best temperature for keeping eggs is from 
45 to 50 degrees; the evaporation will be much less than 
at a higher temperature, and the temperature may be 
kept nearly at freezing without injury to the germ. 

Slightly turn the eggs once in two days while keep- 
ing If turned oftener it is likely to float the albumen, 
causing the chick to grow fast to the shell and be de- 
stroyed. 

EGGS. 



Egcrs produced under the Narsh System find a ready 
market °and always at an advanced price. People who 
buy eggs soon learn that they are sure to get fresh eggs 
and they are ready to pay more for them. One reason 
why eggs are low-priced in summer is because so many 
go to market in a condition that approaches spoiling. For 
this reason people do not use as many eggs as they would 
if they were sure they were getting strictly fresh eggs. 
Where eggs are produced under the Narsh System, 
the merchant who can secure them will pay you several ; 
cents above the market price, and he will consider him- 
self lucky for securing them. He informs his customers 
that he has them and guarantees every egg, and the de- 
mand for the eggs grows very rapidly. 

HOW TO PEODUCE EGGS. 

Put vour hens in the coops, feed them the proper 
material to make eggs; the hens cannot fail to produce 
them. The egg ovaries are in the chick when born They 
are so small that a powerful magnifying glass wall only 
show a cluster as one tiny speck, but they develop to be 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 21 

a cluster or batch of eggs. These batches develop one 
batch at a time; the others seem to lay in a perfectly 
dormant condition, the cluster that is developing must be 
supplied with the elements of which the egg is composed, 
and if not the ovaries or cluster is blasted. On the other 
hand, if all the elements are furnished the cluster they 
will develop and the egg will be produced. The clusters 
vary widely in number, some clusters developing only 
10 or 12 eggs, while others as high as 40. When all of 
the cluster has been developed there comes a rest period 
with the hen and it requires about a week for the first 
egg of the next cluster to be produced. This seldom varies, 
unless for some cause or other the cluster has been 
blasted. The cluster may be blasted at any time during 
the developing period. If the hen receives a slight in- 
jury, the balance of the cluster will be blasted. The next 
cluster will come forth for development, but if the hen 
has not fully recovered, the second cluster will also be 
blasted. 



LAYING HENS. 



It is conceded by all poultry men that a laying hen 
will do her best when confined to a small space. The 
Narsh System gives ample space in each section of the 
coop for a hen to get plenty of exercise, allowing six 
hens to the section. The perches are quickly put in place 
at night and as easily removed in the morning, requiring 
a very few minutes of time. 

Hens enjoy, to a certain extent, being in flocks; yet 

when a number are confined in a small yard they become 

dissatisfied and become ''scrappy," often fighting like 

i cockerels. They often injure themselves, and such an in- 



22 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

jury, even though slight, will check the egg production. 
Like people, poultry is affected in disposition if not in 
perfect health and comfort The stronger impose on the 
weaker, get the most of the food, and the result is dis- 
astrous to the flock. By the Narsh System, enough hens 
are kept in a section for company ; they all have an equal 
chance to eat and drink ; and if for any reason it is de- 
sirable to remove one of the flock, it can be quickly and 
easily transferred to another coop. 

One cockerel is suffucient for two sections, or 12 
hens, transferring it once a day from one section to 
the other. The cockerel, as a rule, is indulgent to the hens, 
and will allow them to eat nearly all the food, so that if 
fed with the hens he either doesn't get sufficient nourish- 
ment, or the hens are overfed. To avoid this it is better 
to feed him outside the coops, either in the open or in a 
separate coop reserved for the purpose. 

As stated before in this writing, an egg is composed 
of different matter. The hen must take into her body 
such food as contains this matter. For instance, hens 
require a certain amount of meat to produce eggs. The 
poultryman is aware of this and feeds his hens meat in 
what he considers the proper quantity for the number of 
his flock . The hens are always eager for the meat. The 
meat alone will not produce eggs, as other elements are 
lacking. The stronger and more greedy hens get the 
larger portion of the meat. The result is they will not 
eat the other food necessary to make the egg, and no egg 
is made. The weaker and slower hen cannot produce 
the egg for the lack of meat. The hen will produce eggs 
when she has taken all the elements into her body re- 
quired to make an egg. In this system, where the proper 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 23 

feed is furnished, they will all get the proper quantities. 
You will then realize that a hen is an egg machine worth 
having. 



WHEN TO COMMENCE INCUBATING. 



By starting the incubator in December, so as to 
have your first hatches come off about the 15th of Jan- 
uary, you can have broilers ready for the market by the 
first of March. At that time there is a market for 1 1-2 
pound broilers, which will bring 50 cents apiece and 
perhaps even more. 



INCUBATION. 



The first important part is to secure eggs from hens 
that have been properly fed. Such will be found much 
more successfully hatched than eggs produced when im- 
proper feeding has been done. The proper feeding has 
been fully outlined in this book. In incubation, the first 
week is the most important and demands the greatest 
care. Too much cooling or too low a temperature during 
the first week is apt to prove disastrous to a hatch, and 
if not fatal to the chicks, often shows the effects in the 
development of chicks with crooked toes, crooked necks, 
or other malformations. After the first week they will 
stand much harsher treatment. 

The first twenty-four hours will be required to bring 
the eggs to the proper temperature; they should not be 
subjected to sudden heat. If it has required the full 
twenty-four hours to bring the eggs to the proper tem- 
perature, so much the better, as you are quite safe in 
stopping or holding the proper temperature without the 



24 THE NARSH SYSTEM, 

heat running too high the last few hours. 

At the end of the first week the blood vessels have 
formed, resembling a net work of veins, and the cir- 
culating blood helps to keep the proper heat within, and 
the eggs will stand more airing or cooling. The tem- 
perature during the second week should be raised to not 
exceed one hundred and three degrees and the eggs 
should be cooled about five minutes once during the day. 
Care should be taken in ventilating the room to be sure 
that all odors from the lamp have been removed, as the 
cooling of the eggs causes a contraction, which draws air 
through the pores of the shell, and if the air is impure 
it will affect the developing chick. 

Keep the temperature as nearly as possible at 103 
degrees during the remainder of the hatch, cooling the 
eggs from five to seven minutes each day in a room 
where the temperature is from 65 to 70 degrees and if 
the temperature is higher in the room, cool the eggs two 
minutes longer for every degee above 70 until ten min- 
utes has been reached. 



SUPPLYING MOISTURE. 



As before stated, fresh eggs will not need any mois- 
ture supplied, but when they have been kept for some 
time it will be necessary to supply moisture while in- 
cubating. 

Here we will first explain the effects of moisture 
upon the hatch, giving the reader a better idea as to the 
amount of moisture, if any should be supplied. Moisture 
will cause the chick to grow large and if too much is 
applied the chick will grow to such a size as to be 
crowded in the shell, causing it to smother before it is 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 25 

able to crack the shell. The last ten hours of the chick's 
confinement in the shell is the time that the yolk is 
absorbed, and after the absorption of the yolk the chick 
turns clear over in its shell. It must then soon get air 
or it will smother. If it is too large to turn in the shell 
it will not be able to crack it and free itself. In eggs 
that do not need moisture supplied, the chick will not 
grow so large, will have more room to turn, and will 
be more able to bring the legs as well as the beak to 
bear on the shell and crack it without injury. Where 
hens are set on the ground the eggs will get too much 
moisture, unless the ground is exceedingly dry. 



HOW TO SAVE THE CHICKS BY ASSISTING THEM 
FROM THE SHELL. 



Many chickens are lost that could easily be saved 
if the following instructions are carried out : First, make 
an opening in the large end of the egg with the point of 
a penknife, sufficient for you to locate the chick's beak, 
then make a small opening at the point of the beak, 
using care not to let the point of the knife come in 
contact with the chick and cause injury. After the last 
opening is made, a small three-cornered file will be 
found useful in weakening the shell around the center, 
but do not allow the file to cut through the shell. The 
egg should then be put back in the incubator or the 
nest to finish hatching. The shell should not be pulled 
off, but it should be allowed to free itself after the above 
assistance has been rendered. 



26 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

BROODING THE CHICKS. 



It is unnecessary to supply artificial heat, and the 
chickens are more often than not injured by it. They 
will do better, even in the dead of winter, with the mer- 
cury registering ten degrees below zero, if our system is 
used. There is sufficient heat born in the chick, if it be 
properly retained. If, in the dead of winter, there should 
be as many as 75 chicks put in one brood coop, if you 
have that many hatched. They should be taken from the 
incubator as soon as dry. If the temperature is more than 
10 degrees below zero, put 40 chicks in the brooder, or 
incubator as soon as dry. As soon as the mercury has risen 
above zero, leave only about 50 to the brooder, and as 
they grow to two or three weeks old it will be necessary 
to reduce the number to 40. If the chicks are found to 
be warm when the hand is passed through the nest, the 
inner part of the brooder nest may be removed. This 
should uot be done the same day as the number is re- 
duced, however, as the change will be too sudden, and the 
chicks are likely to catch cold. These changes should be 
made when the cold weather is decreasing. The floor of 
the brooder should be covered with sand and on this a 
layer of chopped straw to prevent chilling. 

When the chicks have passed the first week of life 
and are in good condition, they may be considered safe 
and are ready to receive nearly all kinds of food that can 
be secured. Give them bulky food (such as alfalfa meal 
or cut clover) to expand the craw. The rapid growth of 
a chicken depends almost entirely on the amount of food 
it can be induced to eat. 

The last feeding at night the chickens should be 
given a variety of whole grain, excepting corn, which 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 27 

should be cracked. When they can be induced to fill the 
craw well at night they are doing well, but if they fail 
to have the craw well filled there is something lacking, 
and they should be tried with something new. It is best 
to give a slight change every day at the last feeding, 
making cracked corn a staple. For example: cracked 
corn and whole wheat; cracked corn and whole oats; 
barley and kafircorn. By making these changes the 
chickens will be induced to eat more than if the entire 
mixture is fed at each feeding, and there will be a cor- 
respondingly fast growth and greater development. 
Whole oats should be put to soak in water in the morning 
before feeding, allowing them to soak until one-half hour 
before feeding time, and drain for a half hour. For 
chicks under three weeks of age, if oats are fed they 
should be crushed. The morning food should be princi- 
pally composed of cornmeal, wheat bran, wheat millings, 
seasoned with a little salt, and moistened with skim milk, 
if the milk can be had; if not, with water. If water is 
used do not make the mash too soft. 



It is needful to use great care in brooding chicks. 
And to that end we have devised a brooder, description 
and cuts of which are presented herewith, which, if in- 
structions are followed, will prove of great value in the 
first care of the chicks. In proper or improper brooding 
lies largely your success or failure. 

Using artificial heat has proven very unsatisfactory, 
though it has been used for many years. Most poultry- 
men are beginning to realize that stronger and better 
chicks can be raised when artificial heat is dispensed 
with. 



28 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

Do not be in too big a hurry to remove the chicks 
from the incubator — be sure they are thoroughly dry. Re- 
member that you are taking them from a temperature of 
103 degrees to a much lower temperature, hence it is neces- 
sary that the brooder has been carefully and properly 
prepared. If the weather is cool or damp, carry the 
brooder tray into the house and warm it for a few hours. 
Spread newspapers in the bottom of the tray to keep out 
any cold air from beneath ; then spread prefectly dry cut 
straw or loft litter, sufficient to make a good nest. Place 
the inner brooder frame in the tray, working it well down 
into the litter, to insure no draft around the lower edges. 
Be sure that you place the inner frame exactly in the cen- 
ter of the tray so that when the outer frame (or cover) 
is placed, the air space between, filled with dead air, will 
be equal on all sides. This dead air chamber allows a 
gradual escape of the air inside, at the same time filtering 
in sufficient fresh air for the chicks, and keeps the tem- 
perature even. 

It requires six times as much air for birds as it does 
for other species of the animal kingdom ; for this reason, 
do not attempt to substitute an inverted box or any other 
material to take the place of the canvass-covered frames. 

When the brooder has been thus prepared, place the 
chicks in it, keeping the brooder in the house or incubator 
room for several hours to make the change more gradual, 
then place in the coop. 

When you have placed the blanket frame in the inner 
brood frame, adjust it quite low to prevent too much air 
over the backs of the chicks, and close the door open'ng 
with a handful of straw to keep the chicks from getting 
out until they have been in the coop several hours. 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 29 

If it is a winter hatch, do not be in too great a hurry- 
to feed, allowing them to stay in the brooder undisturbed 
for 36 hours or even longer. "When you do feed, scatter 
the feed in the open coop, remove the straw and allow 
them to find their way out, and there will be no trouble 
about there finding their way back in. If placed in the 
open coop first it will require time and patience to teach 
them to go into the brooder at night. 

The blanket frame prevents crowding: and the tramp- 
ing on the weaker by the stronger. Be sure to keep the 
litter of the floor dry, for if the chicks get cold feet they 
will try to get on top of each other and the weaker ones 
will be killed or injured. 

People often ask us what is the matter with their 
chicks, saying they are weak and often two or three die 
in a night. Nine times out of ten it is because they have 
a damp place for their feet, with the results described 
above, and often a man decides that his flock is the vic- 
tim of cholera, roop or limber-neck, or some other malady, 
when in reality his chicks are being trampled and smoth- 
ered because of poor brooding houses. 

Make a Narsh brooder and use it as here directed and 
the failures of the past will become the successes of the 
future. 



FIRST FEED. 

The following system is contrary to many writers, 
but we have proven it by long experience to be suc- 
cessful. Many poultry men claim that the chicken 
should not be fed for 24 hours after it is hatched, claim- 
ing that this time is necessary to digest the yolk that 
has been absorbed before hatching . But if the egg was 



30 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

fresh and properly incubated the yolk will digest very 
readily. If improper conditions existed either before or 
during incubation, the yolk will often become indiges- 
tible, and the chicken will die, although it may live sev- 
eral days or even weeks. 

It is our experience that it is better to feed the 
chick as soon as it will eat, using stale bread that has 
been well baked and dry enough to crumble well; then 
soften with sweet milk and feed often, but in small quant- 
ities. Water should be given as soon as they will drink. 
The yolk of a hard-boiled egg, crumbled fine, will be 
good. Scatter small seeds in the sand; the chicks will 
learn to scratch for them when only a few hours old, 
giving them exercise and starting the blood to circulat- 
ing freely. 

The first week's feeding is of great importance to 
give the chick a good start in life. Lean beef scraps may 
be fed the second day, cut fine and given once a day. 
They are very fond of beef, and the writer has had sur- 
prising results from feeding pure lean beef scraps, from 
the beginning. Sweet skim milk will add very material- 
ly in developing both flesh and bone. Grits should be 
fed after the second day, or as soon as the chicks will 
eat cracked corn. If they are given the first day the 
chick will often eat too much, while the second or third 
day they have learned the value of the grit and will only 
take into the craw wliat is needed. When sharp, coarse 
sand can be had the chick will get sufficient grit. This 
will be explained under the subject of " Brooding/ ' 



FRESH AIR NECESSARY. 



Air is the most essential of the three requisites for 
life, namely, air, water and food. 

Therefore, little chicks must breathe pure air. Pure 
air, pure fresh water, and pure food and no disease will 
bother your poultry. 

A large per cent of the chickens hatched die in 
brooding for the want of pure fresh air. On the day I am 
writing this article I made a personal visit to two dif- 
ferent chicken ranches to see the condition of the chicks, 
and the operators in both instances reported a heavy loss 
in the chicks after they were put in the brooder. One 
gave the cause, in his opinion, that it was impossible to 
get eggs in this country from hens on the range at this time 
of the year that would produce a good chick. He had a 
hatch of about 40 and they were put in the brooder one 
week ago today, and today there were 14 only living, 
and they were not healthy looking and doubtful as to 
raising. I found about the same results at the other 
ranch. In both cases they were brooding alike — had the 
chicks in expensive brooders with the air shut off. About 
the same date that the chicks above mentioned were put 
in the brooders a lady delivered 33 chicks, hatched by 
hens on the range and very close to where the eggs said 
to be the fault of the losses mentioned came from. My 
chicks are 7 and 8 days old today. I have not lost one, 
jneither have I had any signs of sickness among them. 
Where the losses occurred the chicks were in expensive 
brooders, costing hardly less than $10 apiece. My chicks 
are in a section of my system. 

When chicks are brooded under my system the loss 
of one chick is a rare thing. Out of 98 chicks that I 



32 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

have bought, I have not lost any, while all of the poultry- 
men whom I have talked to (and I have talked to a 
number) report from 50 to 75 per cent loss. The feed- 
ing has been very similar, as they all feed young chicks 
about alike. 



RAISING BROILERS. 



As soon as the chicks are dry they should be taken 
from the incubator and placed in the brooder in a sec- 
tion of the coop. If they are first placed in the open 
coop it will require some time and trouble to teach them 
to go into the brooder, whereas if they are first placed 
in the brooder and kept there a short time they will go 
back into it without further trouble. 

The construction of the coops allows of perfect sani- 
tation and plenty of pure air which, with proper feeding, 
brings the broiler to a high state of perfection, giving it 
a ready sale at a good price. 

Broilers weighing two pounds should be produced 
in eight weeks. When they are six weeks old, stop feed- 
ing wheat bran and let midlings take its place in the 
morning, adding about one-eighth part linseed meal. This 
mixture should be fed three or four times during the day, 
also feeding all the cracked corn that they will eat. Fatty 
meat scraps may me fed while fattening. 



CRAMMING. 



For best results a machine is necessary, especially 
during the last ten days, for otherwise the birds will not 
eat nearly as much as they can digest and assimilate. 
For this purpose a machine, an illustration of which is 
shown elsewhere in this book, can be made or purchased 
at a reasonable price. This cramming method will add 
materially to the quick growth of the bird and will add 
a pound to a pound and a half to what it will otherwise 
attain in weight. By this method also, chickens may be 
brought up at market price, fed for a few days and sold 
at a good profit. 

At a certain New York establishment the birds are 
fed as follows during the cramming period. 100 pounds 
finely ground barley; 100 pounds finely ground corn; 100 
pounds finely ground oats, with hulls sifted out, to which 
mixture is added 10 per cent of beef scraps. Buttermilk 
or skim milk is used for mixing, the former being pre- 
ferred. A little salt is sometimes added and the birds are 
fed twice a day at intervals of 12 hours and are crammed 
for three weeks. Another ration that can be recom- 
mended is 100 pounds ground oats, 100 pounds ground 
corn, 50 pounds flour and 4 pounds tallow. 

CAPONS. 



A capon is a castrated male bird. Caponizing will 
make a bird more quiet, the comb and wattles cease to 
grow, the plumage becomes heavy and the bird fattens 
more readily. They neither crow nor fight, and have 
been sometimes known to rear a brood of chicks. They 
weigh from 10 to 12 pounds at a year old and bring a 
good price. 



34 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

The following extract from Bulletin 287, Poultry 
Management of the U. S. Government, is instructive along 
this line: 

''Fowls hatched early in the spring can be caponized 
before hot weather comes, which is an advantage, al- 
though no ill results should follow the operation at any 
time of the year if it is properly done. Generally speak- 
ing, the bird should be from 2 to 3 months old and weigh 
about 2 pounds, depending largely on its development. 
A good set of tools is indispensable and can be purchased 
for from $2 to $3. As a complete set of instructions is 
furnished with each set it is unnecessary to go into de- 
tails here. The beginner should, however, operate on 
several dead cockerels before attempting to operate on a 
live one. 

After caponizing, the bird should be given plenty of 
soft feed and should have plenty of water to drink. The 
eapon begins to eat almost immediately after the opera- 
tion is performed, and no one would suppose that a radi- 
cal change had taken place in his nature. Leave him 
to himself, as for the time being he is his own doctor. 
It is well, however, to look him over two or three days 
after the operation has been performed, for sometimes 
air gets under the skin, causing a slight swelling, or 
'wind puff/ This can be relieved by pricking through 
the skin at one side of the swelling with a sharp needle 
and gently pressing out the air with the hands. The 
wounds will heal within ten days from the operation. 
The capons should be fed nourishing but not fattening 
feed, the object being to keep them growing. They should 
he allowed to grow until about a year old, depending of 
course largely on their maturity, some breeds maturing 
much more rapidly than others. ' ' 



RANGE CHICKENS SLOW TO MATURE. 



It requires three or four months to develop a broiler 
on the range. During the summer they usually eat too 
many poisonous bugs and worms, retarding their growth 
and laying them liable to the many diseases that chickens 
are heir to. They often contract bowel trouble of such 
a character that they never recover. 

It is a great mistake, and becoming more and more 
so acknowledged, for poultry raisers to think that 
chickens do better when allowed to roam at will on the 
range. There is loss on every hand — slow maturity; vari- 
ous diseases; lice and mites; loss from rats, cats, dogs 
and hawks; poor egg production; loss in hatches caused 
by eggs chilled on the ground — losses that would more 
than cover the cost of feeding were they properly housed. 
Narsh 'System chickens are as far ahead of range 
chickens as the Kentucky thoroughbred is ahead of the 
cow pony of the plains. 



PROFIT IN SETTING HENS. 



I am now preparing to breed a strain of setters. A 
hen will hatch 15 chicks. We can cut it down to 12 and 
let us do some figuring. We will place the value of the 
eggs at 25 cents per dozen. At that price the 15 eggs 
would be worth about 32 cents. You will pay 10 cents 
apiece for chicks as soon as hatched — that is, hen-hatched 
chickens. At that price the 12 chicks would bring $1.20. 
We will allow 6 cents for feed, as a setting hen can be fed 
for 2 cents per week. This would make the cost 38 cents, 
leaving 82 cents profit for the hen for five weeks, as we 
will allow her two weeks to develop ovaries and com- 



86 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

mence producing eggs. During the time the hen is of 
little or no trouble to speak of, and I have not estimated 
the results too high where my System is used. I do not 
wish to be understood that good results can not be ob- 
tained by an incubator. A properly constructed incubator 
in the hands of a careful person, skilled in the handling, 
will bring good results ; but if not in the hands of such a 
person I would much rather have hen-hatched chicks. If 
the incubator has not been properly handled even a reason- 
ably good hatch will show the bad effects. 

You are reasonably sure to raise a hen-hatched chick. 
Placing the first cost at 10 cents, you can feed the chick 
until it is a two-pound broiler for 10 cents and pay highest 
market price for feed. Under this System, I will leave 
this to my reader to figure out what per cent his profit 
will be on his investment. 



HENS FOR HATCHING CHICKS. 



Hens will bring good results when set in the coops. 
One section will accommodate three hens nicely, one in 
the nest and one in each end. All laying hens should be 
removed from the section to be used by the setters, and if 
the hen which produced the eggs was properly fed you 
may come pretty nearly counting your chickens before 
they are hatched. As soon as the chicks are hatched put 
them in the brooder coop, and the mother hen will soon 
be producing eggs again. 



KEEPING PULLETS FOR LAYERS. 



When your chickens have reached broiler size your 
cockerels should be marketed excepting those you want 



THE NARSH SYSTEM. 37 

to keep for breeders and those should be placed in a 
section by themselves, as the young cockerels will con- 
tinuously torment the young pullets and retard their 
growth. 



PROFIT IN THE PRODUCT. 



Many poultrymen claim the greater profit is in mar- 
keting the eggs. I would have agreed with them until I 
discovered how to raise broilers. It has been always 
taken for granted that chickens could not be raised to 
broiler size without a large per cent of losses ; first, losses 
in eggs not hatching ; second, but not least, in raising the 
chicken after hatching. Now that I am sure that the 
chicks can all be raised, I do not hesitate to say that the 
broiler yields the greater profit. That word all will sound 
bold to many, but I mean it. 




THE ADVANTAGES OF THE COOP SYSTEM. 



The fowls are supplied with an abundance of fresh 
air; they are kept from the dampness of the ground; 
they have the association of a large number, making per- 
fect contentment, yet are divided, which protects them 
from injury when feeding by the stronger ones trampling 
down the weaker ones, and from getting too much of one 
kind of food which they particularly like and the weaker 
ones not enough. 

A hen must be in perfect health to produce eggs. 
When a laying hen has been injured she will stop laying 
at once. For example, a hen may be in the midst of her 
egg-producing period and have a toe bruised or severed. 
She will only lay the one egg, which was all ready hard 
when the injury was received. All the unmatured eggs 
will be absorbed and the hen will not begin to lay again 
until she has fully recovered, and it will then take some 
time for the hen to develop new ovaries and commence 
laying. This accounts largely for a small flock of hens; 
producing more eggs than a large flock, pro rata. If a. 
well bred hen does not produce eggs continuously, except 
her rest periods, which are one week, and seldom varies 
from the time the last egg of a litter is laid until the 
first egg of the new litter is produced, and should the 
hen fail, you may know something is wrong. If she is 
not moulting she has been injured, or has not had proper ] 
care. If hens are kept in a large flock and roost in 
barn or sheds, they soon become polluted with lice and 1 
mites. These pests find their breeding places in wood; 
coops, barns and sheds; they multiply very rapidly im 
dark places, and where fresh air cannot strike them. 
Plenty of fresh air and light will exterminate the mites 






THE NARSH SYSTEM. £S 

entirely. No lice or mites will be found where my new 
coop system is used. Where buildings are used for hous- 
ing poultry it is necessary to have openings for ventil- 
ation. These openings cause a draft and the result is 
your hens will take cold much easier than they would in 
the open air. By my system the cold wind can be shut 
off from any direction and at the same time allowing 
plenty of fresh air and light at all times. 

The entire system can be changed from a cool snm- 
er coop to a warm winter coop in five minutes, and is 
warm enough that chicks one day old may be placed in 
the battery in perfect safety without artificial heart when 
the thermometer is 10 degrees below zero. This may sound 
strange to many who have not seen the system, and it 
will no doubt be considered by many as impossible to 
brood chicks in dead of winter without artificial beat. 
The facts remain the same, chicks will do better under 
this system taken from the incubator as soon as dry and 
placed in the brooder coops, and will do better than chicks 
in a brooder supplied with artificial heat, 

Hens will produce eggs in winter as well as summer 
if the proper conditions exist. They must be protected 
from the damp and cold and at the same time have plenty 
of fresh air and light. A hen is far more profitable when 
she will produce egg* in winter. Broilers hatched in 
midwinter will develop into two-pound broilers in from 
seven to eight weeks, bringing as much on the market 
at this age as full-grown chickens will brinu- hatched in 
the regular hatching season. Your laying hens must 
have the proper attention to produce the eggs for winter 
hatching. 



HOW TO LOCATE THE NARSH SYSTEM OF COOPS. 



It will be best to locate the coop facing the east, 
as this allows the morning sun to come direct on the 
run, or large trays. This enables the chicks to take a 
sun bath in the early morning sun, which is very bene- 
ficial to the young chicks. This brings the small tray on 
the west side of the coop, where the last sun rays strike 
the brooder and helping to freshen and warm it up for the 
night. 

These coops should be cleaned at least once a week. 
It is necessary to remove the sand pans, empty them, re- 
place and refill them. This would be a little heavier work 
than the ordinary woman will care to do. If the husband 
will get up a few minutes earlier in the morning and 
while the wife is cooking breakfast, two or three of the 
coops can be cleaned and the same in the evening; the 
rest can be easily accomplished by a woman. As a rule 
the woman is more successful, as she is apt to look closer 
after the small details of the plant, which are necessary, 
that a man is more apt to overlook. 



ONE COOP FOR OLD AND YOUNG. 



The Narsh System of coops are so arranged that they 
can be easily adjusted to accommodate both old and 
young, making both comfortable. (See illustration and 
description for manner of wiring.) 

The curtains are arranged to drop from the top of the 
coops and can be lowered so as to cover one, two, or all 
of the sections, as desired. If young chicks are kept in 
the same coops with the older fowls, it is therefore de- 



THE NARSH SYSTEM 41 

sirable to keep them in the upper sections, because con- 
ditions sometimes demand protection for the young while 
the older ones do not need it. For instance, a small chick 
easily chills in a cool, damp wind that doesn't affect the 
hardened older ones, retarding its growth or even proving 
fatal. 



INJURIES RECEIVED BY IMPROPERLY CON- 
STRUCTING COOPS. 



It is important that I again impress upon my reader's 
mind the necessity of protecting your birds from injury, 
for as before stated, a hen will cease to produce eggs if 
suffering from injury, though it may be very slight. Hens 
often get bruises on their feet, caused from jumping from 
high roosts and alighting on hard ground or floor often 
causing abscess on the bottom of the feet — and while the 
hen is suffering she will not produce eggs. If you have 
the opportunity to examine the feet of fowls which are 
kept in buildings with high roosts you will find many 
bruised feet, and the egg production from the flock will 
show the results. Such methods should be improved upon. 
Many writers tell j^ou of the bruises and cuts and tell 
you of the effect on the egg production. They have their 
ointments and itch to sell it to you as a cure. I am 
thoroughly convinced that prevention is worth more than 
a cure. The ointments may aid in the recovery of the 
present wound, but will not prevent the next one. A lay- 
ing hen should not be kept where she can exert herself 
by jumping from high roosts. Far better results will be 
obtained where the perches are not over three inches 
high, or just high enough to keep the fluff feathers from 
becoming soiled. 



42 THE NARSH SYSTEM. 

Hens are often crowded off from high perches and 
not only injuring themselves, but often causing others to 
fall and receive like injuries. 

In my system there is a remedy. A greater number of 
hens can be kept in the same space as the general poultry 
house now in use. The hens need not have over three 
inches to step up to get on the roost and no danger of 
others crowding them off. Where six hens and one cock- 
erel are kept in a section of the Narsh System it is im- 
possible for them to receive any of the above named in- 
juries. These facts aid very materially in the increased 
egg production. 



GREEN FEED FOR WINTER. 



It is very essential that laying hens should have 
greed feed in winter. Cabbage leaves, potatoes, turnips, 
onions, in fact most any vegetables are good for hens in 
winter. Small potatoes ofttimes can be purchased at a 
low price in the fall. They form a good food, either raw 
or cooked. Lawn clippings stored where they will dry 
in the shade, are an excellent substitute for vegetables in 
the winter. A mixture of cooked potatoes, alfalfa meal, 
wheat bran (add sweet or sour milk, if you have the 
milk), seasoned with salt and pepper, makes a good mix- 
ture, and will be relished by the hens. The alfalfa meal 
should be put in a vessel and boiling water poured over 
it. At night cover with something that will retain the 
fumes and in the morning mix with bran. Corn meal 
makes a very inviting breakfast. When the alfalfa or 
ground clover has been treated as above mentioned it is 
nearly as good as green cut, the water having softened 
the hard stalk, making it much easier to digest. Sprout- 



THE NARSH SYSTEM 43 

ing grain, oats or rye are good green feed producers. 
Place the oats or rye in a vessel to soak over night. In 
the morning place them in a box that will let them 
drain, sprinkle night and morning with a sprinkling can, 
turn them over every two or three days and they will 
form a sod. In from eight to ten days they will be ready 
for feeding. This method of securing green food for win- 
ter is easily done and forms not only a cheap food, but 
a great egg producing food, and is excellent for the early 
chicks. When feeding to small chicks they should be fed 
before any stalks have been formed, as they get too tough 
for the little fellows to pick off. If fed when the sprouts 
are about two inches long they will eat them all up. 



I know of no crop that will produce such returns in 
green feed for poultry as Dwarf Essex Rape. You can 
sow it at any season of the year, wet or dry, hot or cold. 
Frost does not hurt it. It makes a good growth anywhere ; 
the plants soon rival cabbage in size and make the best of 
food. 



A delicious article of diet from a chicken standpoint 
is ensilage made of lawn clippings. Take a sugar barrel 
and each time you gather your lawn clippings put them 
into the barrel and then moisten. Then place a board 
with a heavy weight on top the moistened grass. As you 
gather the clippings repeat the same operation until the 
barrel is full. This ensilage will keep sweet indefinitely 
and makes a fine feed during the winter. Freezing does 
not hurt it. 



MOULTING. 

The moulting season usually begins in August and 
the duration varies widely. There has been a great deal 
of writing on this subject by poultry men from different 
parts of the country. The season for moulting as well as 
the duration of the moulting period differs widely in 
different localities. While these differences exist, I am 
fully convinced that there is but one solution to the 
problem, and that is, the hen must have the proper ma- 
terial supplied in the way of food to make feathers, and 
the duration of the moulting period depends fully upon 
the amount of fiber-making material the hen can get or 
be induced to consume. 

Some writers on the subject are of the opinion that 
the hen can be fed in such a manner as to produce eggs 
as well as make feathers. This has been accomplished to 
the extent that a hen will produce from one to two eggs 
per week during the moulting season, but where this has 
been done egg producing feed must be forced and the re- 
sult is that the moulting period is extended. My expe- 
rience has caused me to believe that better results will 
be obtained by placing the hen on a strictly fiber diet and 
get through the moulting period as quickly as possible — 
do not be alarmed at the loss of flesh during this period. 
The flesh will be rapidly replaced as soon as the fowl 
has regained her plumage, and will soon be producing 
eggs. It is well for us to understand something about the 
material the feathers are composed of in order 
to enable us to supply the fowl with the necessary 
material. All feathers are about the same composition — 
carbon, 52.5 per cent. This element can be supplied best 
in charcoal — the fowl will readily take this into the body 
in moulting season. Carbon also exists in mineral sub- 



THE NARSH SYSTEM 45 

stances, such as limestone and the hen should be supplied 
with plenty of grits of this character. Hydrogen, 7.2 per 
cent. This element is also supplied by the mineral sub- 
stance supplied in the grits. 17.9 nitrogen. This ele- 
ment is taken from the atmosphere. 22.4 oxygen, and 
sulphur. The former is present in most all food material. 
The sulphur should be supplied pulverized. Charcoal 
should be fed plentifully and may be mixed in a bran 
mash, adding a little sulphur. Wheat bran is a good fiber 
food, also alfalfa meal or ground clover. Fowls will be 
droopy during the moulting period, but when the plum- 
age has been regained they take on new life. As above 
stated, my experience has convinced me that the best re- 
sults will be obtained by leaving off the egg product dur- 
ing the moulting season, but hasten the period by the 
following diet : Alfalfa, cut or ground, or clover. Char- 
coal, crushed, can be mixed with wheat bran, adding a 
heaping teaspoonful of sulphur to every six fowls, the 
sulphur feed only two weeks, twice a week. Charcoal, 
alfalfa, wheat bran, salted as food should be seasoned for 
the table should be fed twice a day. Dry alfalfa, dry 
wheat bran and whole oats should be before them all the 
time. 



DISEASES. 



I know something about diseases of poultry, but I 
never regarded it very profitable to doctor sick chickens. 
It has always been my theory to hunt up the cause of the 
sickness and go after that. A chicken that is suffering 
from disease is better buried or burned than it is running 
around. For this reason I believe prevention is worth 
more to my readers than cure. 



46 THE NARSH SYSTEM 

Fresh air is the best tonic the poultry keeper can 
give his fowls. It is cheap and the supply is unlimited. 
Filth spells ' 'failure" every time; in keeping poultry 
from vermin an ounce of prevention is worth a pound 
of cure. 

Fresh air is the preventative, but not when distri- 
buted through cracks and knot holes. 



ROUP. 

This disease is probably one of the greatest hin- 
drances in the poultry business. There is scarcely a poul- 
try man who has not had his experience with this dis- 
ease. When roup once gets a foothold on a fowl it is 
very hard to break it up ; the fowl will never be entirely 
well after it has once become contaminated therewith, 
and months after you think the fowl is in perfect health 
if you pick the bird up you will find out that it is very 
thin and unfit for egg production or breeding purposes, 
still the bird has been eating just as much as any other 
member of the flock, still it is "thin." This is what we 
term "roupy" fowls. 

The primary cause of roup is a cold, which may be 
contracted in different ways. It generally starts from 
the fowls roosting in drafts, exposure to cold rains or 
disagreeable weather, overcrowding and using poorly 
constructed houses kept in a filthy condition. 



GAPES. 

Gapes is caused by the chicks picking up a small hair- 
like worm found in the soil. The chicken swallows them 
and they crawl back into the throat and get into the 
windpipe and often kill a large per cent of the chicks. 
There will be no gapes where the Narsh System is used. 



LIMBER NECK. 

Limber neck is very similar to gapes, and is caused 
by chicks feeding on some decaying carcass where mag- 
gots are present. The maggots eat through the tissues 
or lining, causing what is called limber neck, and also 
causes death to the chicken. There are many remedies 
advertised, but in my judgment when chicks are afflicted 
with either disease it renders them worthless to raise, as 
they never become a strong fowl and only strong, healthy 
fowls are profitable. 

The presence of these diseases has stimulated me 
very much to study out the remedy, and the remedy is, 
place them in the battery coop system, and there will 
never be a case of gapes or limber neck. 



EFFECT OF MITES ON POULTRY. 

.Many a poultryman finds something wrong with his 
flock, but he cannot tell what it is. He examines for 
mites and doesn't find any; he takes it for granted that 
mites are not the trouble. Something else is wrong. Yet 
the chances are that it is mites. 

Mites do not stay on the fowl in the daytime. They 
will be found in the roosting places in large numbers 
unless you are constantly fighting them. They do their 
work at night by sapping the fowls and causing unrest 
during the night and then go back to their hiding place 
where it is dark. I have found mites hanging in rope- 
like clusters where it was believed none existed. Yon 
are sure to find them where fowls roost in buildings 
where the mites can find dark places to hide. In the 
Narsh System there is no place for them to hide or keep 
out of the circulating air. Light and circuating air will 
exterminate them from your fowls. 



A PEW WORDS ON PERCHES. 



A perch (or roost) should be slightly oval, as it is 
natural for fowls to curve the feet and toes. Where a 
flat surface is used, with sharp (or square) corners, the 
hens do not rest as comfortably, and often get corns on 
the feet. Oval strips, known as 1 1-2 ovals, can be se- 
cured at any lumber yard. If half round is used, 2-inch 
half round will not be too large. 



STARTING IN THE BUSINESS ON RENTED 
PROPERTY. 

In my System I have combined a complete poultry 
plant, especially well adapted for housing and yarding 
poultry of all ages, from the day they are first hatched, 
at all seasons of the year and in all weather conditions, 
from the hottest days in summer to the coldest days in 
winter. 

With this System it is possible for people renting 
property to raise as fine poultry and with an equal, if not 
greater, profit than Uhe farmers with unlimited range. 
At a day's notice, without handling or injuring a single 
hen, he can locate his plant many miles from his original 
site. 

Many people hesitate to start in the poultry business, 
not knowing whether they are permanently located or 
not, and fear that their investment in poultry house would 
iepreciate and they would get little or nothing back. 

In my System you mil not find it so. Should you 
wish to discontinue the poultry business you will find a 
ready sale for your entire plant without loss, as all of 
the System is good for many years and can be moved as 
easily as any article of household furniture. 



INDEX 

The Narsh Poultry System 3 to 7 

Southwest for Poultry . 8 

Why Middle Aged Men Should Start in the Business. 9 

A Growing Business _. 10 

Poultry More Profitable Than Other Stock 11 

First Step-* 13 

Selecting Pullets for Breeding Broilers 15 

Broilers Raised by the Narsh System . 16 

How to Feed Breeders to Secure Hatchable Eggs_. „ 16 

Fertility. __ . 17 

Composition of Eggs 18 

Care of Eggs to be Incubated -__ 19 

How to Produce Eggs 20 

Laying Hens . _. 21 

Incubation 23 

Supplying Moisture 24 

Assisting Chicks from the Shell 25 

Brooding the Chicks 26 

First Feed .... 29 

Value of Fresh Air _ .__. 31 

Raising Broilers - 32 

Cramming 33 

Capons 33 

Range Chickens Slow to Mature . 25 

Profit in Setting H*-ns 35 

Hens for Hatching Chicks ..... 36 

Keeping Pullets for Layers 36 

Advantages of the Coop System 38 

How to Locate the Coops .— 4u 

One Coop for Old and Young 40 

Injuries from Imoroperly Constructed Coops 41 

Green Feed for Winter -42 

Moulting -44 

Diseases. .. _ 45 

Mites on Poultry 47 

Perches ._. 48 

On the followirg pages are given full details of 
the Narsh Coop System with illustrations. 



CUT No. 1 

Shows front view of Coop complete, except curtains — 
front doors slide either way, allowing access to either 
side of tray — Front doors of first and third doors opened 
to receive drop boards. 

DESCRIPTION OF DROP BOARD OR ROOST: Drop 
board should be 12 inches wide and be made from some 
thin lumber which will be light to handle — empty dry 
goods boxes can be usually secured at a small cost and 
make very good bottoms ; it is best to put cleets across 
the bottom to prevent warping or splitting — two-inch oval 
or two-inch half round make the best roosts and can be 
secured at most any lumber yard — lx2-inch can be used, 
but should have sharp corners taken off ; the fowl will be 
more comfortable when roosting on a slightly curved sur- 
face. Cut two blocks 1x2x3 inches long, nail them to the 
drop board in the manner shown by the one setting 
directly in front of coop; these drop boards, or roosts, are 
placed in the coop at night and removed in the morning 
and are easily cleaned by the use of a wooden paddle 
The cut shows the attendant cleaning the drop board — 
the instrument he is using is the blade of an ordinary 
garden hoe, which has had the shank broken off and holes 
punched in the blade and riveted to a handle, and does 
the work very nicely — a ten-cent fire shovel does the 
same work. 

When the drop boards are cleaned the fertilizer should 
be placed in barrels or boxes and kept dry until wanted; 
do not waste your fertilizer, as it is valuable and much 
sought after by the eastern gardeners and fruit growers, 
often bringing from 20 dollars to 25 dollars per ton— the 
value is more when procured from the drop boards. 



CUT No. 2 

This cut shows rear of Coop with curtains rolled up 
in the small or back tray; on top floor w T ill be seen a 
Narsh brooder. This brooder and brooder tray is separ- 
ated from the larger tray by a partition wire with a small 
sliding door which slides perpendicularly and can be seen 
in this cut — 3rd floor, or where attendant is holding back 
door open. The small or back tray is called the brooder 
tray but answers for a nest tray or dust pan for laying 
hens. 

The small tray is removed from the back when clean- 
ing; the chicks are easily driven into the large tray or 
front pari of coop and kept there by closing the small 
door; small tray can be removed without opening the back 
door — there is sufficient room under the door for the tray 
to be drawn out. The back door which the attendant is 
holding open, is a frame made of light material and cov- 
ered with one-inch mesh poultry wire having 4 small wire 
hooks stapled to each corner in such a manner as to en- 
gage themselves to 4 small screw eyes — the door can be 
opened either way by raising one end out of the screw 
eyes, allowing the other end to engage, or. by raising en- 
tire door up it is easily removed entirely. 
Small or Partition Door. 
This door works freely upward and downward in two 
slides. Slides are made using three pieces of lath, the in- 
side lath being ripped in the center, making it only half 
as wide as the other two; the narrow T one being placed be- 
tween the whole laths forms a groove for the door to slide 
in — be sure to select a lath thick enough to allow the door 
to slide up and down easily. The slides are made right 
and left AND LEAVE THE OUTSIDE LATH extending 
far enough to nail secure to cross piece above the doors. 
The bottom of the slide is stapled to wire only and must 



not extend downward quite to the tray. If so made your 
trays will be divided only by the partition wire: if the 
slides extend down below the top of tray the space be- 
tween the trays will let a baby chick drop through. 




No. 2 



CUT No. 3 

Shows coop with all trays removed and the slides will 
be readily seen in the last named cut. 

How to arrange the opening and closing device : Drive 
a small staple directly over center of door, bore small hole 
in top of door to receive cord, pass cord through staple 
over door passing thence to outside of coop, drive staple 
or scrcweye to receive cord outside of coop and extending 
downward, tie end to nail in such a way as to be tight 
when door is closed, then catch the string about 3 inches 
up and pull down until door is open, then drive small nail 
(raving enough of head stick out to hold cord. Cut on op- 
posite page shows these cords and will aid in arranging 
them. 

Cut on opposite page shows frame with trays and 
doors removed, showing slats running from front to back, 
these slats are the supports for the trays. Note that they 
extend over the cross piece. This extension forms the 
slides for the front door to rest on. Cut Five, third 
cross piece shows the third or middle cross piece, 
fast to the tray and extends to form middle rest for 
door 

NOTE the front uprights in this cut showing space 
for door to slide between. 




No. 3 



CUT No. 4 

Cut on opposite page, shows how the Narsh System 
Coop can be used for both old and young chicks at the 
same time. 

Place the baby chicks on the upper floors, and this 
will allow the curtains to be lowered to protect the baby 
chicks and at the same time leaving partially or fully open, 
the lower floors where the older ones may be placed. 

Note the side curtains only reach forward to the in- 
side upright. This is done to let the front doors open with- 
out rolling up side curtains — front curtain is made to 
reach around to the side and overlap side curtain — back 
curtain overlaps side also. 




No. 4 



CUT No. 5 

Cut on opposite page shows brooder in back tray; 
also shows front doors partially open. 

When chicks are hatched in winter, it is well to take 
out (he wire doors and place glass doors in their stead. If 
frames are made for glass, make them enough wider to 
lap the cross piece above at least three-eighths of an 
inch ; side pieces will necessarily have to be cut out a 
corresponding amount to allow the wider doors to be 
opened; where the glass door is used, the morning sun 
warms up the run (or big tray) and at the same time 
keeps out the cold air. 




No. 5 



CUT No. 6 

Cut on opposite page shows cramming machine in 
operation. 

See page 33. 

Wiring is also shown in this cut. NOTE the right 
hand coop, also the middle coop is wired with what is 
known as Pittsburg welded wire 2x4-inch mesh. This 
Wire is best for breeding pens, as the cockerels with large 
combs can get their heads out to eat without injuring 
their combs — each floor will have to be wired separate 
if the Pittsburg Welded Wire is used for the sides — a 
good way to wire coops is to use 2-inch mesh poultry wire 
for sides, three feet wide, just fills the space of Large 
tray; 1-inch mesh by 12 inches for sides of small tray 
space using 1-inch mesh by 5 feet wide for partition wire 
between the two trays; when wire of these sizes is vised, 
coop ean be wired from top to bottom with Pittsburg 
wire. Pittsburg Welded Wire can be used for the doors 
and feed hoppers hung on doors. This method will per- 
mit of outside feeding by hanging feed hopper on the 
door. 




No. 6 



DIMENSIONS OF FRAME 

Cut on opposite page shows side of coop. 

Make both sides alike, excepting one is right and the 
other left, that is, make the two sides in such a manner 
that the pieces marked 1 (one) come on the outside of the 
uprights, A. B and C. A is a 1x3 8 ft 8 in. long; C is 
1x3 7 ft. 5 in. long; B 1x3 7 ft. 10 in. long. 

Cross pieces marked 1 (one) 1x3 5 ft long and 3 in. 
from bottom ; then 20 inches apart. 

The sizes given here makes a 5 ft, 2 in. square coop 
which is a very nice size. 

Large tray made to fill space between A and B; 
small tray to fill space between B and D. Make frame for 
trays of 1x2 ; make floor of tray out of matched lumber to 
prevent dirt falling through. 

Extend Rafter No. 2 eight inches in front. 



rj 



-A 



f 



B 



iGU 



ft U B. 



The Narsih Brooder is made of two frames made of 
ordinary building or plastering lath and covered with 8-oz. 
ducking. 

Fig. 1 on opposite page shows the outside frame. 

Fig. 2 shows the frame eovered with ducking. 

Fig. 3 shows the brooder blanket, 

Fig. -1 shows the inside brooder frame with brooder 
blanket inside. 

Fig. 5 shows outside and inside frames placed in the 
manner in which they are used. 

Fig. 6 shows frames covered with the ducking (or 
cloth) covering cut away to show brooder blanket intact. 

The two frames are made exactly alike except one is 
2 inches larger than the other; the larger one is called the 
outside frame and is covered by tacking a strip of duck- 
ing around the frame on all sides and over the top. 

The smaller frame is called the inside frame and is 
covered on all sides only leaving top open to receive the 
brooder blanket. 

Brooder blanket is made of one strip of woollen or 
cotton flannel (former preferable for winter, latter for 
summer) having tucks sewed in at intervals of 3 inches 
apart and is tacked onto a lath frame as shone in cut 
(Fig. 3.) 

The blanket frame is suspended by the four corners 
by the means of a cord or what is known as picture frame 
chain; drive a small finishing nail in each corner of inside 
frame to hook the chains over; by so doing the blanket can 
be adjusted to suit the weather and the growing birds. 
An extra blanket consisting of a tow-sack or some other 
(doth can and should be used on top of blanket frame to 
insure warmth over the back in winter. Care should be 
taken to see every day that baby chicks have not gotten 
on top of brooder blanket and cannot find their way out. 
Make inside brooder frame leaving one-inch space be- 
tween frames; this space will be filled with dead air and 
will keep a more even temperature on the inside. 
Make outside frame to fill the brooder tray. 



BROODED 




TRAME WORK 

ordinary 
Plaster/wo 
Laths. 
Covered w/r// 

SO/9 3 02 DUCK/AVCr- 



Fig. 6 




NOV 22 1910 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



IIIIIIIIBIIII 

002 851 033 



